I'm conflicted whether to reply to your post on BGG, or on the TOG forums... So I'm opting for here, and if there's any amending to be done in my review (when I check the card box for what was probably some strange hallucination
), I'll be sure to handle it over on the Geek.
Thanks for taking the time to read the review and give such a well constructed response. Seeing as you took said time, I feel that it warrants a grateful response. While my wording is sometimes poorly chosen, please see the following comments as constructive curiosity, and not as a criticism per se. Additionally, everyone's got their two cents to throw in, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Concerning the Once-Per-Turn abilities:
When we were used the abilities more than once per round that we were obviously abusing them. It never became a serious problem since nobody at the table was looking for a way to exploit an ability that was clearly not intended to be a bottomless bucket of band aids. I'm not sure such a clarification warrants a full reformat of the cards, but a simple cheekily worded F.A.Q would sort it out handily.
Concerning Character Balance:
In our hand full of games, the dice gods smiled upon us, and I suspect that we were better lucky than good on most occasions. We noted almost instantly that Zeigler(sp?) was NOT to be allowed to die! However, with some careful applications of the medic and bodyguard ability, we managed to keep our entire team breathing. I'm certain that with more plays under our belts, we'll get a chance to deal with the infected.
Concerning the Luck of the Deck:
I don't really have a major gripe with getting obliterated by the bomb, but a couple players I regularly play with will announce "Aaaand it didn't matter because the deck beat me...". These are the kind of folks who still cling to the idea that a player making "all the right moves" should always be able to out-play the game.
As it stands, there is no way to see ahead into the deck as to what is coming. You know that there is a Countdown in each quarter of the deck until you hit the reshuffle, at which point you've got no clue.
There's a bit of deck manipulation already in the came with the "Stash It" option for equipment. We tried to figure out how we could use this to leapfrog over a countdown timer, but it's intentionally not made that way.
There are a couple ways to wrangle the deck.
1)An ability that lets a (combat weak) character "Scout ahead" into the deck, and see what's ahead. They could spend a number of zombie headshots to draw that many cards, then shuffle the rest of the deck, put any number of the drawn cards at the bottom, and any number of drawn cards at the top of the deck.
Alternately, they could spend headshots to draw that many cards, pick one as their draw for the turn, and completely reshuffle the remainder with the rest of the deck.
The infected ability would draw cards whenever headshots were spent by uninfected survivors, placing any countdown timers on the table when they were revealed, and reshuffling the rest.
It would prevent outright abuse because it costs headshots that this combat pansy will only be making through luck or the grace of equipment. It would not reduce the size of the deck. The first option doesn't work because it only changes the outcome of "we would've been beaten by the deck into "We still might be beaten by the deck" or "We most certainly won't be beaten by the deck because I put the cure on top and the countdown on the bottom." Still, it's a mechanical starting point.
I have other notions, largely stemming from deck manipulation tricks used in CCGs.
All of that being said, I don't consider Atomic Dispersal a deal breaker. The real detraction was listening to one friend whinge over making all the right moves and still losing. This is a sticking point for some folks. I'd say that it is a thematic element in the game, and that it fits well. I'd have been remiss in not pointing it out for the benefit of readers.
Riddles Yet Left Unsolved:
What's the deal with the Axe? We all looked at it and said "Well, it's equipment... but... Yuck , +1 / -1" . There's probably a reason we didn't yet see (The Dame's ability, perhaps?) in practice. I'll repeat that my friends carefully chose the combat monsters of the game, and I pulled randomly from what was left. The dice were hot, and the danger manageable. Perhaps more plays will reveal the cleverness of this seemingly very limited bit of equipment.
The countdown timers all have the number 3 on them... I realize that it would be nigh impossible after a reshuffle to make the 4 countdown timer cards count down in order, but the Quartet of 3's kinda had me scratching my head. Does this represent the Doomsday clock being set to 3 minutes to midnight? Is there a legendary MBI clock that permanently got stuck at 3 somewhere in the facility? If not, should we be making one? Endicott's not too far from away....
One of the event cards shows dice results as Roman Numerals. Is there a specific reason for this? Does the well chosen font on the event cards just "do' numbers in that way, or was that a purposeful choice? I suppose it does somewhat differentiate that you're rolling a "Hard Result" as opposed to a modified one (which consistently use ordinary numeric characters throughout the rest of the game.
And On to the Next:
I want to make it clear that I think that the creation of an add-on kit is a darned good idea. Do I really need dice and counters? No... I've got tons... and I should be content to play that way. Cheapass games went pretty far assuming everyone had dice and chits. The fact that you included cuttable chits in the base game shows that you're trying to give people as much of what they need to play as you can. I applaud that. Despite the fact that you've given us a fine horse, some of us just can't avoid looking in its mouth.
The option to make the game a $20 purchase with some snazzy components, or to have a good solid game for $10 is nice to have.
I'm personally a little gunshy concerning expansions (having watched Munchkin and Killer Bunnies become games of "Flipping cards for no pay" when they are fully padded out), but as soon as my wallet recovers, I'll be getting the Survival Kit and seeing how it affects the game.
So, with that, I'll cap off this missive by saying that every single game, be it wargame, boardgame, cardgame or ~other~ has a slight learning curve that comes with it.
Games like F.F.G.'s Starcraft had its box opened and closed for the last time ever in 5 hours one night.
In contrast, we all had an enjoyable time of starting off with E.E. and as we play it through, I'll be sure to tell others about it.
I'd be happy to discuss any of the questions above further, and will refrain from revealing my own age. Suffice it to say that I'm old enough that I should have designed and published a game by now
.
Thanks again for your reply!
J. Pygmaelion Pigula